real life. not perfect. but almost.

Traveling with a Baby

In the next few weeks, we will be taking a 7 hour + stops road trip to visit my sister in Kansas! Words cannot express the excitement around here. The kids love my sister and brother in law, love visiting their unbelievable home, the two dogs, and they know we always jam the week full of all sorts of fun things. Caleb and I are pretty excited, except we’re also deathly afraid of the car ride. OK, maybe that’s a little excessive but seriously. We’re worried. Harv is not a traveling baby. Like, at all.

As we prepare to head out, I rounded up a few of our must haves when traveling with a baby.

Harv needs a place to sleep, even though he sleeps with Caleb and I pretty much nightly. He still naps in a crib. We have a Graco Pack n Play. It came with all the bells and whistles – changing station complete with diaper and wipe holder, basinette attachment, lights, sounds and vibration machine, mobile etc etc etc. He needs zip of that these days -praise the Lord (it’s a ton to pack). Now we just use the crib part itself. Fold it up, stuff it in the carrier and off we go!

Food. Ha. We plan on buying groceries once we get there for the week, but if you have a picky eater or are particular about what you feed babe, they may not have the same brands or flavors. Best be on the safe and prepared side! We love Plum Organics and those pouches are awesome!

Toys. With a 7 hour trip we plan to be as smart about driving and naps as possible, but we also know that it’s going to be long and will get very boring for Harv. We’ve started investing (yes, investing!) in new toys to make it easier on all of us.

Baby Carrier. If you haven’t started wearing your baby yet, try it, it’s amazing! I’ve used all sorts of brands and styles, but currently I’m loving our Ergo. So is Harv. If he sees it laying around the house, he gets all excited! Soooo cute. Knowing we will be walking around site seeing, a carrier makes it all easier. As much as I love our Ergo, I really have been eyeing up those Tula Toddlers but haven’t taken the bait yet.

Sun Protection. Seeing as we are heading South and the weather is supposed to be hot hot hot, protection is a must. Harv knows that he must wear a hat at all times if he’s outdoors. If he takes it off, we go in. It’s annoying but he’s learning and leaves it on most the time. I like the brim hats so it protects his ears, eyes, and chubby neck. The aviators are just adorable and matching mine 😉 I also loveNeutrogena Baby Free Sunscreen. It has sooo many benefits! First of all it is not greasy and the ingredients are natural – double score! It also is water resistant. A must when we are outside! Highly recommend.

Diapers and wipes. This may be a duh moment, but until you’ve forgotten them, it needs to go on the list. We are Pampers people all the way. I would love to be more green and do the clothe diaper deal, but flinging poop into a toilet and washing them clean? Sorry, gotta pass on that one. I’ll recycle extra or something.

Blankie. Can’t forget the blanket! Yes these are his favorite. What about all the expensive hand made blankets I made? Forget about it! Go for the $8/piece light weight but has the oh so coveted silk tags. Yep that was the deal breaker. Taggies. Get Harv’s favorite here!

Umbrella Stroller. We don’t own one, so we’re borrowing one from my sister. Thanks Michelle! We have a really nice big one that we use on a day to day basis, but with trunk space being prime real estate – we needed something smaller.

If that wasn’t enough to remember to pack, here’s a bonus!

*** The baby! You weren’t going to forget, were you? I certainly wasn’t.

Bad selfies for the win. Well babe is cute. Mom needs to up her game.

Any essentials you bring that I forgot? Let me know and I’ll throw it in the bag!

P.s. this is not sponsored. We just love the stuff we use and wanted to share the info!